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P. Homan - Women's Political History in the Intermountain West
'Women's Political History in the Intermountain West' ' ' ' ' Citizens of the western United States have been known as pioneers and leaders in the progressive movement. The Wild West, as it was referred to back before much of it was granted statehood, invoked a sense of new ideas and attitudes. This was also true as it related to women's political power. Even though the women's movement began at a small gathering in Seneca Falls, New York - a meeting to work towards gaining the right to vote as citizens of this country - the women's movement truly gained momentum in the West. The first territorial legislature of Wyoming granted women the right to vote in 1869. In 1890 Wyoming became the first state admitted to the Union that allowed women the right to vote. After Wyoming several other western states soon followed suit. Prior to the turn of the century, Utah, Idaho and Colorado had all granted full women's suffrage. In 1894, three women (Clara Cressingham, Frances Klock, and Carrie C. Holly) were the first women eleted to a state legislature when they each won election to the Colorado House of Representatives. In 1896, physician and polygamist mormon, Martha Hughes Cannon won election to the Utah Senate, becoming the first woman elected to a state senate. Soon other western states followed suit: California in 1911, Washington in 1910, Nevada, Arizona and Oregon in 1912, and Montana in 1914. Montana became the first state to elect a woman to the United States Congress (and the only state to do so before National Suffrage), sending Republican Jeannette Rankin as their representative from the 2nd Congressional district in 1916. Every state west of the Rocky Mountains (with the exception of New Mexico) had granted women full suffrage before the passage of the 19th Amendment. The only states that had done so outside of the West were New York, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas and Michigan. There were other states that had granted partial suffrage, however. WYOMING Many theories have been put forth about why Wyoming had become a trailblazer in the Women's Movement of the 19th Century. Voting rights for women at this time was extremely controversial and the experiment highly untested. No historians can officially agree on what Wyoming's true motivation was. Some claim that it was an initiative to attract more settlers, others contend that it was politically motivated to advance party causes, and even some others state that it was an effort to offset the newly enfranchised African-American population. Whatever the reason was, it earned Wyoming the nickname of the "Equality State" in 1890 when President Benjamin Harrison granted its statehood. Wyoming became one of the first states to elect women to statewide executive office. In 1894, Carbon County Superintendent of Schools Estelle Reel was elected as a Republican to the office of Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction. After having served two terms, Reel was appointed by President William McKinley to the office of U.S. National Superintendent of Indian Schools, a position she served in until Congress eliminated it in 1910. The Superintendent of Public Instruction was a popular position for women to hold in public office. This post is often an elected position in Western states, while in the East it is often a position appointed by the Governor. Wyoming elected a woman to this position in every election from 1894 to 1958. Wyoming also became one of the first states to elect a woman Governor. In 1924, Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming and Miriam A. Ferguson of Texas became the first women elected chief executives of any U.S. state. Ross was sworn in 15 days prior to Ferguson, and thus is credited with becoming the first woman to serve as Governor. Nellie Tayloe Ross was the wife of Governor William Bradford Ross D-Wyoming (1923-24), who died from complications from surgery at the end of his term. According to Wyoming law, the state Secretary of State assumes the Governorship. Nellie Ross was nominated by the Democratic Party in a special election to run the following month. She did not campaign, yet easily won the election in November. In 1926, she ran for re-election and was defeated by Republican Frank Emerson. Ross was appointed as Director of the Mint Bureau in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, becoming the first woman to ever head a federal agency. She served in this capacity for 20 years, the longest person ever to serve as head of the U.S. Mint. Wyoming continues to regularly elect women to every office, except for United States Senator. U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis, a Republican, currently serves Wyoming as it's lone representative to the United States House of Representatives, she was preceded by another woman - U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Cubin, also a Republican. UTAH Utah's Territorial Legislature passed Women's Suffrage in 1870. The practice of plural marriage in the Mormon Church fostered a large female population. It is suggested that Utah passed the pioneering legislation to increase its voting population, figuring obedient polygamist wives would vote in line with their husbands. However, women were disenfranchised from voting with the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887. The Joint Congressional Bill put forth by Senator George Edmunds of Vermont and Congressman John Randolph Tucker of Virginia was motivated by the controversial practice of polygamy with the L.D.S. church. Along with women's suffrage the act limited several rights of members of the Mormon Church. The act was eventually repealed in 1978. Elders of the church felt that polygamy threatened statehood, and it was eventually banned by President Wilford Woodruff in 1890; however, it was still heavily practiced. Suffragettes in Utah banded together to push the legislature of the 46th state to regrant women's suffrage and it passed again in 1896. Later that year, Martha Hughes Cannon was elected to the Utah Senate - the first woman in the nation to be elected to a state Senate. A medical doctor and polygamist, Cannon defeated eight others (including her husband) to be elected to the at-large seat for Salt Lake County. The Salt Lake Harold commented on the race by saying, "Mrs. Mattie Hughes Cannon, his wife, is the better man of the two. Send Mrs. Cannon to the State Senate and let Mr. Cannon, as a Republican, remain at home to manage home industry" Utah's progressiveness in regards to women in political office begins and ends with Dr. Cannon's historic election. Utah is one of the few states that currently has no women serving in statewide elective or US Congressional office. It has elected only three women to serve in the United States House of Representatives - the first being, Salt Lake City Judge and former Utah House Minority Leader, Reva Beck Bosone. Elected as a Democrat in 1948, Bosone was re-elected in 1950 defeating Ivy Baker Priest (who would later serve as a United States Treasurer and California State Treasurer) in one of the very first woman vs. woman U.S. Congressional elections. Bosone was defeated for re-election in 1952. It was not until 1992 that Utah State Senator Karen Shepherd won election to Utah's 2nd Congressional district only to be defeated by Enid Greene Waldholtz in 1994. Greene Waldholtz did not run for re-election in 1996, due to a major scandal concerning her husband's finances. Utah has elected two women to statewide executive office. Olene S. Walker was selected by then-gubernatorial candidate, Michael Leavitt to be his Lt. Governor runningmate. The Leavitt-Walker ticket was re-elected in 1996 and 2000. Walker advanced to the Governorship in 2003 when Leavitt was tapped by President George W. Bush to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Walker ran for Governor in 2004 but was defeated in the Republican primary by eventual winner Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. The only other woman to win statewide elective office in Utah is Jan Graham. A Democrat, Graham was elected Utah Attorney General in 1992 and re-elected in 1996. Graham declined to run for a third term in 2000. Utah's conservative bent and traditionalist ideals have been touted as the cause for women's lackluster numbers in elective office in the state. COLORADO Colorado became the second state to pass Women's Suffrage in 1893 (even thoug the Utah Territory had passed it prior, by the time that it had become a state women had been disenfranchised by the Edmunds-Tucker Act). In 1894, Colorado became the first state to elect women to its legislature. They were Republicans Frances Klock, Clara Cressingham and Carrie C. Holly. Colorado is currently ranked third behind New Hampshire and Vermont in the United States for percentage of women serving in the state general assembly with 37% of its legislators being female. Colorado has elected several women statewide, continually electing a woman Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1898 until 1950 when the position was made a non-elective post. Other women elected to statewide office include, Gale Ann Norton, who was elected Colorado Attorney General in 1990 and 1994. Norton made history in 2001 when she was selected by President George W. Bush to become the first woman United States Secretary of the Interior. One of the most famous women in Colorado politics is Patricia Scott Schroeder. Schroeder was initially elected to the first Congressional District, which included Denver, in 1972, becoming the first woman to represent Colorado in the United States House of Representatives. A political newcomer, she defeated Republican Incumbent James McKeavitt - she was then re-elected eleven times to what became an increasingly safe Democratic seat. She declined to run for re-election in 1996 and was succeeded by another woman, then-Colorado House Assistant Minority Leader Diana DeGette. Schroeder was known for her wit and had coined the phrase "Teflon President" referring to Ronald Reagan, who seemed not to have any scandal stick to him. In 1988, Schroeder became the fourth woman to run for the nomination of a major party for President of the United States. EAST vs. WEST While the West can be accredited with jump starting the Suffrage Movement in the United States, some of its states (like Utah and Idaho) have fallen short in electing women to public office. The regions that have consistently and continually place women in elective office are New England and The Pacific Coast. California (partially due to its largesse) has sent more women to the United States Congress than any other state, 33 total. California was also the first state to have two women serve in the United States Senate simultaneously with the elections of Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer in 1992, what was known as "The Year of the Woman". Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, and Arizona have all elected women Governors. Arizona has had four women Governors, more than any other state. It also had the first woman to serve as a state Senate Majority Leader, when eventual United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was elected to the post by her colleagues in 1973. However, since the Women's Liberation Movement in the 1970's, the East has continually led in electing women to public office, specifically the United States Congress. In 1978 and 1984, of half of Maryland's 8 seats in the U.S. House were held by women - considering the incredibly small number of women in Congress at this time - this was a pretty substantial accomplishment. Of the 62 women elected to Congress between 1970-1992, 24 or about 39% of them were elected from the Northeast and New England. This is partially due to the fact that since 1972, more women are running as Democrats (prior to this a large majority of women had been Republican). Western states, aside from those on The Pacific Coast, are heavily Republican. REFERENCES http://womenincongress.house.gov/ http://theautry.org/explore/exhibits/suffrage/index.html http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/index.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_the_United_States